Turtles in a suit shop - Turtle power!

Mention the shop with the turtles in the window and most people in Luxembourg will know exactly what you're talking about.

14.03.2012

Mention the shop with the turtles in the window and most people in Luxembourg will know exactly what you're talking about.

Zwick menswear in Rue du Curé has featured turtles in its shop window display for the last 43 years, since it moved premises from the station district.

Today, the four finned friends attract crowds from far and wide, even featuring on guided tours of the city.

Zwick owner and manager Anne Zwick told wort.lu/en: “Sometimes people will phone up asking us where the shop is. When I tell them it's the store with the turtles, they know exactly where I mean. That tends to happen a lot.”

The store started out with an aquarium and a small handful of turtles. But, as time went by and the turtles grew bigger, the shop's owners had to slim down their window display to four turtles.

Zwick staff have also had to rearrange the pool to ensure there are no escapees. Mrs Zwick recalled how arriving to work one day she found one turtle had crawled out of the pool of water and was climbing down the stairs.

Despite being long-term members of the Zwick work-force, the turtles do not have names. “I named one of them ET, because he looks a bit like ET. But he doesn't come when I call him,” joked Mrs Zwick, adding: “They're not like house pets. We leave them to do as they please and they seem quite happy there.”

Zwick has had a presence in Luxembourg since the first store was opened by Marcel Zwick in Avenue de la Gare in 1943.